chinaco
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- Joined
- Feb 14, 2007
- Messages
- 5,072
This Poll is for people who have retired.
One of the most critical aspects of a safe and secure financial plan for retirement is expense planning. It defines the income need and therefore thie income stream part of the equation.
I have been looking at our for quite a while. I am using our current expenses with some adjustments. Essentially, we have a mortgage that will go away. We will still have the same vehicle and gas needs when we quit work since we intend to do a lot of driving for domestic travel. Our travel expenses will go up. We will down-size the house. Insurance, property tax, heating/cooling reduces. As we age, we will likely have some increase medical expenses (I am not talking about catastrophic situations here). All in all, I am planning for us to spend more money that we actually spend today (including our mortgage). I have planned about a 50% increase over our current spending habit (150% total). The reason for the extra expense is travel. However, I have no way of knowing how it will play out. I figure if we travel less than I expect we will have a lot of cushion in our plan.
I know many of you may not have accurate information, so an estimate is fine. But please provide an answer as to how accurate your planned expenses were versus your actual experience now that you are retired.
Just to clarify. In my poll:
Non-Retirees - Please do not vote. But feel free to comment on concerns that you have about estimating your spending in retirement.
Thanks to all in advance.
One of the most critical aspects of a safe and secure financial plan for retirement is expense planning. It defines the income need and therefore thie income stream part of the equation.
I have been looking at our for quite a while. I am using our current expenses with some adjustments. Essentially, we have a mortgage that will go away. We will still have the same vehicle and gas needs when we quit work since we intend to do a lot of driving for domestic travel. Our travel expenses will go up. We will down-size the house. Insurance, property tax, heating/cooling reduces. As we age, we will likely have some increase medical expenses (I am not talking about catastrophic situations here). All in all, I am planning for us to spend more money that we actually spend today (including our mortgage). I have planned about a 50% increase over our current spending habit (150% total). The reason for the extra expense is travel. However, I have no way of knowing how it will play out. I figure if we travel less than I expect we will have a lot of cushion in our plan.
I know many of you may not have accurate information, so an estimate is fine. But please provide an answer as to how accurate your planned expenses were versus your actual experience now that you are retired.
Just to clarify. In my poll:
- Underestimated % means your actual expenses are greater than anticipated
- Overestimated % means your actual expenses are less than anticipated
Non-Retirees - Please do not vote. But feel free to comment on concerns that you have about estimating your spending in retirement.
Thanks to all in advance.